Adjustable chair



(No Model.)

I J. PURSELL.

I ADJUSTABLE GHAIR. No. 257,065. Patented Apr. 25,1882.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN PURSELL, OF NEWV HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

ADJUSTABLE CHAIR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 257,065, dated April 25, 1882.

Application filed October 11, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOH N PURsELL, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new improvement in Adjustable Chairs; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in-- Figure 1, a perspective view of the chair complete; Fig. 2, vertical central section enlarged to illustrate the operation; Figs. 3, 4,

' and 5, detached views, showing the arrangement of the arm.

This invention relates to an improvement in chairs in which the parts are adjustable to conform to the position desired by the occupant, the object being to make the seat not only adjustable to different elevations, but to different inclinations; also, to make the back adjust-able to diiferentinclinations, as well as to change the back backward and forward, and also to make the foot-rest adjustable relatively to the seat, parts of the invention being applicable to seats or stools,- such as used for pianos and like purposes; and the invention consists in the details of construction, as hereinafter described, and particularly recited in the claims.

As represented in Fig. 1, the chair consists of two rear posts, a a, which extend up to form the back-supports, with two front legs, I) b,

which extend up from the front and backward, pivoted to the rear posts above the seat and secured by cross-pieces d, pivoted to the one part and interlocked with the other, so that-,if occasion require, the chair may be folded; but this folding of the chair is no part of my invention, as the invention may as well be applied to a chair which is .not folding as to one which will fold.

A represents the seat, which is supported on a rundle or cross-piece, 0, at the back, and with linked connectionsfto a similar rundle, h, at the front.

On the inside of the rear legs is a vertical notched plate, B, and on the front legs is a similar vertical notched plate, C, the notches t in each being preferably made as a part of a vertical groove in the plate, as seen in Fig. 2. Into these grooves the ends of the rundles c h extend, and so that when the ends of the rundles rest in the notches at the front and rear they support the seat. The linkfpermits the rundles to be spread apart-that is to say, so that they may be moved from their respective notches, and then up and down through the slot; but whenever engaged with any notch they rest in that notch and hold the seat hard.

To retain the two rundles in their respective notches they are connected by a spring, (here represented as an india-rubber band, 10,) which will yield, so that the seat may be forced to the rear to move the rundle c from its notches; or the rundle h at the front may be drawn forward, the link permitting such movement until it is drawn out of its notches, so that either the rear of the seat or the front of the seat may be raised or lowered through the respective grooves and set to any desired notch--say as from the position seen in Fig. 2 to that seen in broken lines, same figure-or the front edge may be raised or depressed, as shown in broken lines, same figure, thus changing the inclination of the seat; or the rear may be dropped, which will also change the inclination, of the seat. Thus it will be seen the seat may be adjusted to different elevations.

D is theback, provided with notched arms 1 near the top and 8 near the bottom, the notches of which will engage studs ton the back posts. These arms are hinged to the back D so as to turn only to a position at nearly right angles to the back, as seen in Fig. 2. Above and in rear of the studs t a stop is arranged to bear upon the upper side of the arm, as seen upon the upper arm, Fig. 2, which prevents the rear end of the arm from tipping up by the weight of the back, operating upon the arm over the studs 13 as a lever. These stops may be in the form of a button, as shown, so as to be turned away to permitthe arm to be raised from the stud; or it may be simply a pin or stud stationary above the arm, and so far in rear of the stud t thatthe back may be first raised sufficiently to take the notches of the arms from their respective studs, then drawn forward or moved backward until another notch is reached.

The back may be moved forward, the arms r s engaging the studs 2? through their respect ive notches-say as to the extreme forward position seen in broken lines-which throws the back bodily forward, or the inclination of the back may be changed, either throwing the top forward and engagingone of therear notches n the arm r or remaining engaged with one of the forward notches at the top. The lower edge of the back may be thrown forward and engaged with one of the rear notches in the arms 8, as indicated in broken lines, Fig. 2. Thus,it will be seen, the back has a varied ad- IO justment, by which it may be thrown bodily forward, or the lower edge may be thrown backwardand forward, the top remaining, or vice versa. To such a chair an arm is desirable, but it must be adjustable with relation to the position of the back. To this end I construct an arm,as seen in Fig. 3, with a vertical slot, F, by which it may be attached to the side of the chair by a set-screw or otherwise, the slot permitting vertical adjustment in a well-known manner for this class of chairs.

I The arm-rest is composed of two parts, H I, the part H being permanently attached to the vertical adjustable part and the part I hinged to the part H, so that it may be folded upon the part H, as seen in Fig. 3, or opened outward, as seen in Fig. 4.

L is the cushion for the arm-rest, upon the under side of which are tWo studs, u a. (See Fig. 5.) In the part I of the arm-rest are two perforations corresponding to the studs 20 on the cushion, so that when the part I is folded upon the part H, as seen in Fig. 3, the studs of the cushion will enterthose perforations and secure the cushion in place, as seen in Figs. 1 and 3. When the part I is opened, as seen in Fig. 4, the cushions may be setinto the perforations upon the opposite side or a little farther I back and cross the joint, one of the studs to entering the perforations in the part I and the other stud entering a corresponding perforation in the part H, as seen in Fig. 4.. Thus the arm-rest is made. adjustable not only up and gownflout to different positions forward and ack. P is the foot-rest, which consists of a flat board or plate, having a stud, to, at each end near the rear edge. On each of the front legs is a notched plate, R, with studs :0 in front of the respective notches, so that as the studs of the foot-rest are engaged with the notches on the rear edge of the plate R the foot-rest will bear on the corresponding studs 00 in the front of the notches, as seen in Fig. 2.

The foot-rest maybe removed from one notch and introduced to another notch, above or below, so as to restupon a corresponding stud, and thus change the elevation of the foot-rest.

1claim 1. The combination ofthe seatA, the notched plates B C on the rear and front legs below the seat, and rundles e h, arranged to rest in the notches of said plates and support the seat, one of said rundles connected to the seat by linksf, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination ofthe seat A, the notched plates B O on the front and rear legs, with a rundle supporting the seat at the rear-and extending into the notched plates at-the rear, and a rundle at the front or opposite side extending into the said notched plates at the front and hung to the seat with a spring, at, applied to draw the two rundles toward each other, substantially as described.

3. The back D, notched arms 0* s, hinged to the back, with corresponding studs t t on the posts to engage the notches of the arms, and a stop above and in rear of one or more of the studs, substantially as and for the purpose described.

4. The arm composed of two parts, I H, hinged together, and the cushion L, provided with studs upon its under side, and with corresponding perforations in the said parts I H, substantially as and for the purpose described.

5. The combination of the foot-rest P, constructed with studs w at the rear, with the notched plates It, provided with studs min front of the notches, and upon which the foot-rest will bear while the studs to engage the notches in the plate, substantially as and for the purpose described.

, JOHN PURSELL.

WVitnesses:

JOHN E. EARLE, LILLIAN D. ROGERS. 

